Times Review of Elise SC

[alil'britdifferent]

Review by Andrew Frankel

http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol...cle3171001.ece

There are some technical errors in his review (see feedback comments at end), but overall I think it's food for thought for anyone condersiding adding a SC to an Elise.

My 2 cents.........sometimes things can't be justified by logic.

[PhlypSide]

Interesting.....

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51004

[slaughtr]

From the article:

But the Exige is a brutal, hard-edged track-day warrior whose character ideally suits the sledgehammer delivery of its supercharged motor.

By contrast, the Elise is a road car through and through, a delicate driving delight, and I struggled to see how bolting a supercharger to its engine was going to do anything other than harm.


In my humble opinion, simply retarded.

1) They are essentially the same car, why wouldn't the Elise deserve the same engine.

2) Nobody that has driven an Exige S would call its engine a "sledgehammer" other than someone used to driving a Prius.

My $0.02

[JUNGLISTluder]

The writer of this article seems uneducated about cars. The Elise and Exige are essentially the same car with minor differences. He compares them as if they are a Camry and a Corvette. His words mean nothing to me...

I'll take one BWR SC to go please

[CosmosMpower]

And the s/c car makes a lot more power so you don't need to shift as much yet he drove a whole mountain road in 1st and 2nd? Would you shift a car into 3rd and 4th just for fun even though you'd be at 2500 rpms?

[alil'britdifferent]

Originally Posted by CosmosMpower

And the s/c car makes a lot more power so you don't need to shift as much yet he drove a whole mountain road in 1st and 2nd? Would you shift a car into 3rd and 4th just for fun even though you'd be at 2500 rpms?

I think he wasn't necessarily in 1st and 2nd, but 2 gears out of 6 (i.e. 4th and 5th, or 3rd and 4th). Although I do get your point. I think he was trying to say that the additional power meant less gear changes.

But that does raise the point of how can less gear changes mean that the car is less "fun" on the road, verses the Exige S (essentially the same car), being a track toy.

I think that he knows cars - just not Lotus'

[milehitom]

Since the reviewer thought the blower was strapped onto a base S (rather than the R), he was starting out confused. A tad embarrassing for him as an automotive writer, I'd guess. At least they allowed the comments to gently correct that error. I still plan on putting a supercharger on mine.

Tom

[ivan1]

repost

2008 Lotus Elise SC review

[fpitas]

Originally Posted by ivan1

repost

2008 Lotus Elise SC review

Yep. And I still disagree about the supercharger making it less fun

[Rat27]

In Europe the Elise is not available with the Sport Pack springs, shocks, wheels and tires. The European Exige comes with all of these items so the cars are more seperated than they are in the U.S. So his comments aren't as far off the mark as they may seem. Also keep in mind the Elise S in Europe only has 140 horsepower or something like that. His frame of reference is very different from a U.S. Elise driver.

Originally Posted by slaughtr

From the article:

But the Exige is a brutal, hard-edged track-day warrior whose character ideally suits the sledgehammer delivery of its supercharged motor.

By contrast, the Elise is a road car through and through, a delicate driving delight, and I struggled to see how bolting a supercharger to its engine was going to do anything other than harm.


In my humble opinion, simply retarded.

1) They are essentially the same car, why wouldn't the Elise deserve the same engine.

2) Nobody that has driven an Exige S would call its engine a "sledgehammer" other than someone used to driving a Prius.

My $0.02

[Rat27]

Originally Posted by alil'britdifferent

I think he wasn't necessarily in 1st and 2nd, but 2 gears out of 6 (i.e. 4th and 5th, or 3rd and 4th). Although I do get your point. I think he was trying to say that the additional power meant less gear changes.

But that does raise the point of how can less gear changes mean that the car is less "fun" on the road, verses the Exige S (essentially the same car), being a track toy.

I think that he knows cars - just not Lotus'

I don't think it's the additional power but the wider spread of torque that makes the difference in the number of gear changes. The supercharged car just doesn't have to be shifted as much to go quickly. I can see the point that the supercharged car requires less effort on the part of the driver and is therefore less challenging or fun to drive quickly.

[jhnmdahl]

"there’s no sense of increasing urgency as the revs rise. There’s just linear power from start to finish, and I’d have preferred more variety than that."

Sounds like he doesn't like it because it's too well sorted out, and isn't a stereotypical quirky English car like he was hoping for...

[fpitas]

Originally Posted by jhnmdahl

"there’s no sense of increasing urgency as the revs rise. There’s just linear power from start to finish, and I’d have preferred more variety than that."

Sounds like he doesn't like it because it's too well sorted out, and isn't a stereotypical quirky English car like he was hoping for...

No, he's right. The first time I felt the extra power from the supercharger pressing me into the seat, I thought, "This is awful, that sucker is coming right back off." I may even pull a couple spark plug wires too, just to make the car that much sportier.

[fzust]

Its clear he is right as all the major car makers have yanked power from their cars over the last 15 years to make them more involving.....

I have a base Elise and a 370HP race elise. I love them both. I will love the base better when the blower goes on.